VOA Hausa Launches Four New Programs

VOA Hausa broadcasts 10.5 hours a week to West Africa, where it has earned one of VOA's largest radio audiences around the world.

Washington, D.C., August 1, 2005 – The Voice of America’s (VOA) Hausa service has launched four
new radio programs for its audiences in Nigeria and several other West African nations: Tsaka
Mai Wuya (Hausa Political Crossfire), Ra’ayoyin Masu Sauraro (Listener’s
Mail), Sharhin Jaridun Afrika (Africa in the U.S. Press) and Sharhin
Jaridun (Press Review).

VOA Director David S. Jackson said he hoped the new shows would attract even more listeners to
the Voice of America's wide variety of broadcasts. “Since 1979, our Hausa broadcasters have
provided accurate, balanced and timely news to their more than 25 million listeners in Nigeria,
Niger, Ghana, Cameroon and Chad,” he said. “These new programs will continue Voice of America’s
high standards and tradition of excellent programming.”

VOA Hausa broadcasts 10.5 hours a week to West Africa, where it has earned one of VOA's largest
radio audiences around the world. According to Jackson, the service's popularity is due to the
quality of its staff.

“Our Hausa service brings together the best professional talents from diverse religious, ethnic,
cultural, and academic backgrounds,” he said. “Like all of our broadcasters, they don't represent
any interest groups, either foreign or domestic. But they do represent the best in journalism, and
by following the standards of the VOA Charter, which requires all of our broadcasts to be accurate,
objective and comprehensive, our Hausa-speaking audiences know they can trust the Voice of
America." (VOA's Charter has been a U.S. federal law since 1976.)

VOA Hausa receives thousands of letters and emails each month from listeners across its
broadcast area. One listener, Abdul-Hadi Dabo from Kaduna, expressed his appreciation for Tsaka
Mai Wuya (Hausa Political Crossfire), and commended VOA Hausa’s objectivity: “I am
writing this mail to commend you for telling the truth no matter how bitter it is regarding the
happenings around the world.”

Another listener, Mahammad from Katsina, wrote, “We are full of thanks to you each time we hear
your voices and the news you provide us because of the strength of the truth contained
therein.”

Tsaka Mai Wuya airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a repeat on Saturdays; Ra’ayoyin Masu
Sauraro (Listener’s Mail) airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Sharhin Jaridun
Afrika (Africa in the U.S. Press) airs on Wednesdays. Sharhin Jaridun (Press
Review) airs on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, focusing on Nigerian, Niger and Ghanian papers,
respectively. These Hausa programs can be heard on the following shortwave frequencies, among
others: 4940, 9815 and 12080. They also air on medium wave and FM frequencies through affiliates in
Nigeria, Niger and Ghana. For more information on programs, frequencies and scheduling for VOA
Hausa, please visit us at www.VOAHausa.com.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international
broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming
every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are
produced in 44 languages.

For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 401-7000, or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.